


Father's Day

by Phantasia11



Category: AI: The Somnium Files (Video Game)
Genre: Father's Day, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Gen, it would be better if you watched Mizuki's Ending to be safe, there are some spoilers, this is just really fluff and kinda self-indulgent i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:34:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27334999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantasia11/pseuds/Phantasia11
Summary: It's Father's Day and Mizuki wonders if she has to do anything for the new father figure in her life.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	Father's Day

21st June.  
  
That date was etched into her mind, her brain desperately trying to come to terms with it. It was a simple date for many, a simple celebration, but, in perfect Okiura's fashion, nothing was simple for her. What did she have to expect, descending from a man raised by dolphins?

  
She sighed, uttering the dreaded words: «Father's Day...»

Despite living with Date for almost five years now, she never did anything for Father's Day for him. Not that Date was her father, of course. He was just the one who kept a roof over her head and fed her. He wasn't even her legal guardian until recently. But this time it was different. After all he had officially adopted her, too. He was her father.

Not that she had ever called him that, of course.

She laid down on her bed, cursing the extravagant curse placed on her family for a brief moment, and started to think.

  
What could she do? With Daddy it was easy. He knew his tastes and what to get him.

  
But what about Date? She glanced at the rack beside the window, some new clothes would have been nice...

  
She shook her head: she had no idea about his size, except that he was almost like a giant. Almost.

«Damn it, Date! You're incredibly annoying!» The silence of the room was almost deafening. «Should I even do something...?»

She remembered the day he was in the hospital, after risking his life to save hers. Boss asking her to psynch with him, to wake him up from the coma.

Her true feelings... She had never properly shown them to him.

Sometimes she thought it wasn't really needed. Not that Date thought any different, to be honest. But a nagging feeling in her chest was telling her that, at least for once, she had to thank him for what he had done to her. To a degree, at least.

«Okay, what can I do?»

  
No point in asking Iris or Ota. Both of them didn't have a father to celebrate Father's Day with and she was left stunned at the sudden revelation that she was the only one with a father in that moment.

In a small yell of desperation, she got up from the bed and left the house.

\- : -

«Mizuki, I'm home.» Closing the door behind him, Date found the silence he was greeted with strange. No _"You're late, dummy"_ or _"Where have you been? I'm starving over here"_ to welcome him.

He looked around the apartment. It was empty. Maybe Mizuki was with Iris? She could have left a note...

He checked the fridge looking for something to eat, glancing at the leftovers which he was fairly sure were harboring a new kind of lifeform.

  
"Those leftovers have been left in the fridge for approximately 183 days."

  
"Thanks Aiba. Always on point, I see."

  
"Don't think outloud the next time you don't want me to answer."

  
He just sighed, getting an instant ramen cup from the cupboard and warming it in the microwave.

  
"You know, Aiba. I would have never thought this but... I am a bit sad that Mizuki isn't here."

  
"Lately you two have been growing closer, true. I think she may even be starting to see me as a friend, too."

  
"Yeah... We could have talked over a cup of steaming instant ramen."

  
"Date, we should have a talk over Mizuki's nutritional needs and your responsibilities. She is a growing girl, after all."

  
"...Aiba, you sound like you're her mother."

  
His head felt suddenly empty after that remark, the sheer sense of quiet a foreign feeling to him. A sharp _ding!_ from the microwave cued his hand to grab his dinner.

  
"Aiba? Are you all right?"

  
A distant, foreign thought arrived to him: "A mother..."

  
He shrugged and started eating.

\- : -

«I'm home.»

«Well, well», he swiveled his chair to look at the young girl in front of the door. «Where have you been? I was quite worried, you know.»

A tickling feeling in his left eye socket was soon replaced by a mental image of him in third person, while Aiba raised a hand in her physical hamster-like form: «Me too!»

Date frowned: «Hey, Aiba? Could you not do that in front of Mizuki next time?»

The girl shrugged: «Don't worry. I think it's kinda cool.»

«There you go, Date. She thinks I'm cool.»

He was going to answer back, but Mizuki's voice interrupted him, while she started rummaging inside her backpack: «Anyway, Date, if you were really oh so worried about me, I have a phone, you know.»

«I didn't want to pry. You could have left a note after coming back from school.»

«It's Sunday, idiot. There's no school today. And just get NILE!»

  
Date sighed, he didn't really have anything against that. Aiba was looking at him expectantly. He briefly wondered how he knew that considering she didn't even have a face in that form. "Okay, okay, I get it. Time to use my Dad Powers, I presume."

He slapped his knees, getting up from his chair: «Mizuki, we have to-» but his attempt at authoritative genitorial prowess was soon put to halt by an image he never thought he would see.

His right eye blinked furiously, making the world blur. Was that really Mizuki? The one Mizuki who would scold him for the simplest things? The one Mizuki who he sometimes wondered if she knew his name because she would always call him _"idiot"_?

Was that really _Mizuki_ with a gift in her hands?

  
He looked at her, dumbfounded.

She was looking at the ground, her cheeks a deep shade of red, her hands crippling the paper in her hands.

«Ugh, just take it, stupid Date.»

«...what is this for?» he took the gift in his hands with caution, as if it could disintegrate with his touch.

«You didn't check the date?»

Aiba's voice soon answered: «21st June 2020. Sunday.»

«I did just now. What about it? It's not my birthday.»

«Date. I believe today is Father's Day.»

Date froze.

  
His eye glanced from the gift in his hands to the girl in front of him, who was still looking at the ground, pouting.

  
A warm feeling in his chest made him smile, his previous annoyance dissipated, while he sat down on the chair and put the gift on the desk, carefully opening it under Aiba's careful gaze.

It was a mug.

Date picked it up and looked at it, reading what it was written on it with bright red letters: _"Best Dad in the world"_ , with the word _"Best"_ crossed out and replaced by _"Biggest Idiot"_ in an handwriting he immediately recognized as Mizuki's.

«Hey Mizuki», the girl glanced up at him, but he was still looking at the mug, a smile on his face, turning back to her only to say: «Thank you.»

The expression in his face took Mizuki off guard. He wasn't distant, he wasn't disinterested, he wasn't faking it. Those words were genuine. She couldn't hide her smile, either. She walked near him and hugged him on the neck. He raised his arms and hugged her back.

**Author's Note:**

> So actually I wrote this one year ago, I wanted to post it but I chickened out. In the end here I am.  
> This is some self-indulgent fluff, truly. I just love Date and Mizuki's relationship.
> 
> also hey this is my first story here


End file.
